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The Hungarian government has decided to help families with their mortgage payments through granting one million forints (EUR 3,300) if their third child is born after January 1 next year, and providing the same amount per each further child, a state secretary at the human resources ministry announced on Thursday.

Providing details of a government decision announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in May, Katalin Novák told a press conference that the mechanism will apply from January next year, and that the government has allocated a budget of 17 billion forints for the programme in 2018.

There is no upper age limit for children born earlier so the mortgage debt can be reduced even if the older child has already turned 18 years old, she said.

She noted that applicants must be at least 50 percent owners of the property serving as collateral for the loan, they cannot owe back taxes and must have a clean criminal record. However, borrowers in arrears with other debts can be eligible.

Ágnes Hornung, state secretary at the economy ministry, said that there was an opportunity to extend the programme budget. She also said that the grants were applicable for any existing loan where the collateral was the family’s property, while in the future it would apply to home loans only.

Borrowers have to claim the benefit from the financial institutions. The state will also pay the early repayment fee to the banks, she said.

Novák said the measure is part of the government’s demographic programme, aimed at supporting families raising children, noting that Hungary’s population has been declining since 1981.